Assassin's Code
by DragonScouter
Summary: The higher-ups have decided that they need my services. One of their agents has become too...free, in their project. Now, my 'partner' and I have to travel to a town called Jasper, Nevada to complete the task. My job; free-lance assassin. My target; Special Agent William Fowler.
1. The Assignment

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.**

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><p><strong>Authoress: As with any new story, I am alone. This one is going to be fun though. *smirks evilly* <strong>

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><p><strong>AN: This story will be taking place right after Grill and with one major change, Silas does not create Nemesis Prime (yet). This will be important later on.<strong>

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><p>Ch. 1: The Assignment<p>

It was a slight creak in my floorboards that caused my eyes to snap open. The darkness in the room was difficult to scan, at first, but I depended on my other senses instead of turning on the light. Two months ago, turning on the lights would have been automatic, no hesitation.

A flash of silver had me raising the dagger I kept under my pillow and blocking the dagger heading toward my heart.

"You're learning." A familiar voice stated, a smirk in his tone. Edward 'Black' Blacksmith, the man now in my room, was the reason for my change of routine.

"Why are you getting me up so early?" I groaned as I put my dagger away and buried my face into my pillow.

His amused chuckle reached my ears and I felt as he leaned his head down next to my ear. "Then I should tell the FBI agent on your cell phone to go away?" It took my half-asleep mind a moment to realize what it was he said.

My head rapidly shot up and, barely flinching when it connected with Black's face, I hopped out of bed and ran down the hall of my one story home. Once I reached my cell, I picked it up before saying, "Hello, this is Lizzie Val. Who is this?" I sounded way too awake for three thirty in the morning.

The male voice on the other end did not sound as awake. "My name is of no concern to you. I have a contract of which you are to fulfill"

Okay, I wasn't taking that crap. Yeah, I was pretty much a free-lancer assassin who did a lot of work for the government, but if I was going to be awoken at three-thirty in the morning to play games then I wanted treated a little nicer. Plus, thanks to my training with Black, whenever I took a job, I made sure that I had conditions.

Two options were available to my clients when it came to my work. The first was that I would be told who my client was and what the specifics of my target was, including name, line of work, and why they were being targeted. If I accepted it there, then I would have to complete the contract to the end, unless I was lied to. The other choice was that I still got told who my client was and the name of my target, but I did not have to know anything else about them, for the cases that were too sensitive for talking about. But, with this one, even if I accepted it once it was given to me, I would be able to drop it if I did not agree with killing my target and, in some cases, I would even warn the target that they were being targeted.

As can be guessed, most of my contracts were in the first category, even with my government work. They didn't want to tip off the person that they were assassinating that they had a price on their heads. Though, I had a few that happened in the second category. Actually, that was how I had met Black. Homeland Security couldn't officially go and take care of him so they had hired me. It was actually my first contract from them and I was surprised that they had chosen the second option. While I had been asked to do that option before, it was very rarely done. But, I had given my requirements and they accepted. So, I had gone off to hunt Edward Blacksmith.

When I found him, however, I didn't know how good he actually was and I had eventually ended up with his dagger to my neck.

Bringing myself out of my thoughts, I returned my attention to my phone and this caller. "If your name is of no concern to me, then your contract is of no concern to me as well."

The line was quiet for a moment and I took that moment to place the call on speaker since Black had decided to join me, finally. What happened to his lip? My curiosity would have to wait as the voice on the other line decided to speak back up. "I am FBI Special Agent Adrian Cooper and I am calling to give you a delicate assignment."

I raised an eyebrow at that. I didn't get too many request from the FBI since I currently had an...agreement with the CIA. I would help with their missions if they needed me to and I wasn't busy at the time. And, since the FBI wasn't exactly the sharing type of agency, I figured that they would wait. "Why are you contacting me? And I presume that you have heard of the two options that you have for contracting me. Which of those two do you wish to contract me with?"

An annoyed sigh came from the other side before Agent Cooper said, "I am contacting you because you are the best choice for this mission. It must be done quickly and efficiently and you are the only assassin that the my agency knows that can do this." Of course I was the only one they knew about. Black was...technically...a criminal who had been given immunity by the CIA after I had refused to carry out the contract on him from Homeland Security. That was one of the main reasons that I accepted more contracts from the CIA then any other government group. Black had become a ghost story among the other agency's after that, since we had faked his death soon after I met him. They knew what sort of missions I would accept and the ones that I would shove back at them. The others hadn't quite learned that yet. "Yes, I know about your two options and this one must be with your second contracting option."

That...was a surprise. "Who would my target be...if I accepted?" I questioned. When I glanced at Black, I saw that the thirty five year old man looked concerned about this contract. His blue eyes, though shaded by the shadows of the night, showed that he felt something was off with this contract.

Another long pause was heard on the other side of the line. "One of our agents, who is deep in a top secret mission, has become too...free with his position and has forgotten what his mission is. He has become a risk to the mission. But, with the objects of his mission, he is not easy to get to. So, you are to travel to Jasper, Nevada and search the area outside of a city for a military base. Inside, you are to terminate the agent inside; Special Agent William Fowler."

That name sounded familiar for some reason. Couldn't think of where I had heard it, but I had. Realizing that I needed to talk to Black privately on this matter, I returned my attention to the phone. "I am going to be hanging up this call and I want you to call me back in four minutes. At that time, I will pick up and give you my answer." I then promptly hung up the line.

"Something feels off about this." Black stated. As an ex government stooge and, back then, a hit man for them like I was sorta like now, I knew that he would be able to sniff out something that was suspicious with this contract faster than I could.

Nodding, I said, "I know Black, but I feel like I need to take this one. At the same time though, I feel like I am being played."

A sigh came out of Black's mouth and I knew that he was just as conflicted about this one as I was. The six foot four, medium fair skinned man seemed to be just as conflicted about this one. Finally, after two minutes of silence and thinking, he said, "Take it. With him having chosen your second option, you can back out of this and even warn the guy if you don't agree with the hit."

"Sounds like a plan to me." I stated with a sigh of relief. Now that I had a game plan for this assignment, I knew that things were going to turn out alright. When the phone rang again, I let it ring for a few minutes before I final picked it up.

"Hello?" I asked. I never knew who was going to be calling. I once had a mission where my employer usually kept constant contact with me. One time, when my burner phone rang, I had picked it up and jumped into talking about the assignment. Turned out, it was another assassin who had been hired by the person I was hitting to hit the person who hired me. Thankfully, my fellow assassin agreed to not tell their employer...due to their employer shirking them on their pay. My fellow assassin received a lot of money when I finally completed my hit. That, according to Black, had been a very lucky break for me.

"This is Agent Cooper. Have you come to a decision about the contract?" The man asked.

Again, I glanced at Black, who nodded, before I let a smirk grow onto my face. "I accept."

The sigh of relief that followed caused me to shake my head. "Very well. You fee will be twenty thousand up front and thirty thousand once we receive confirmation of the succession of the hit. Your upfront cash will be delivered within the hour to a location of your choosing. You have a ticket,"

And I interrupted him right there. "No need to worry about transportation Agent Cooper. I have my own transportation planned out. I'll pick up the upfront money at the Timber Gym on main street in D.C. In an half an hour."

That seemed to throw him in confusion for a second because stuttering was heard on the other end before he responded. "Very well Ms. Val. Our conversation never happened." The phone was then hung up.

Shaking my head, I set my phone down before turning to Black. "Contact Bryan and tell him to get your jet ready. I am assuming you want to come with." The last part was more of a reaffirming statement than a question.

Nevertheless, he nodded his head and it was then that I noticed that he was actually in pajamas and not his usual outfit. "Of course I am. This sounds like fun."

"You were staying at my house again, weren't you?" I asked him as he followed me to my room.

His chuckle reached my ears before he said, "Of course I was. Your house is much more comfortable than mine and you cook better. Plus, you are too entertaining."

Shaking my head, I turned to him and said, "You had better get packed. I have a feeling that the reason that we were told the second option is because there is a challenge that they did not want us to know about."

He nodded. "Agreed. You know, for a twenty five year old, you aren't as air-headed as most your age are."

"Thanks." I said sarcastically before taking out my pre-packed suitcase. Black knew that I had it and the 'packing' that I had been referring to was that of my tools of the trade. Machine guns, hand guns, rifles, bullets, daggers, swords, tranquilizers, a bow and some arrows, paint balls...I sometimes needed to fake someones death and I found that paint balls helped with the deception, throwing stars, rope, pulleys, laser cutters for cutting through metal, night vision glasses, bullet proof vests, grenades, rocket launcher for emergencies, a couple of bombs, and some smoke bombs in case we needed a quick getaway.

Black, on the other hand, was packing all of the toxins that we might use just in case. There were way too many to go through but, in a broad way of describing our bags, our actual suitcases with out clothes were our carry-ons, and our carry-ons with our weapons would be going in the area under the plane. Thankfully, we were taking Black's personal plane that he had bought from a friend.

"So, we ready?" I asked him as I zipped up my weapons bag, or work bag, and turned to him.

Of course, he had his all ready but his raised eyebrow caused me to think that there was something obvious that I was forgetting. "Well, unless you want to meet the FBI agent that is bringing our money in our pajamas, then yeah, we are ready dear."

I shook my head at his calling me dear but also realized that I was still in my pajamas. "Get out and let me get ready." I then shoved him out of the room and locked the door.

As I started to quickly get ready, I heard him say through the door, "You know that I can open the lock, right?"

"Yes," I sighed. "but you need to get ready as well." I then hopped into the shower and washed off before I looked around my room. Realizing that a t-shirt would be the best thing to wear, I ran to said drawer before pulling one out. I then struggled as my t-shirt wouldn't get on. Stupid thing. Once I finally got it on, I slipped into my jeans before going to get my shoes. I knew that I needed to make sure I was completely ready for Nevada temperatures. So, I grabbed my sunglasses and shoved them in my purse before getting my tennis shoes on. Then, I quickly brushed my hair and pulled it back into a pony tail.

The opening of my door told me that Black had opened the lock and was done getting ready. When I turned to him, I let out a sigh of disbelief. While I knew he loved wearing his normal outfit, it was going to kill him in Nevada. What outfit was that? Well, it was a a white dress shirt with a white bow tie, black dress tail suit, black dress pants to match, black dress shoes which most likely had black dress socks, white gloves, a black cane, and a black top hat. With his brown hair only being fuzz length, he looked like he didn't have hair for a second. Of course, his medium fair skin seemed to make the outfit look complete. Of course, it was going to kill him.

"What?" He asked me with a smirk. "I like to look my best."

I snorted at that before saying, "Yeah, for your funeral. You do know we are going to Nevada right? Not a lot of shade and plenty of heat."

He just laughed and said, "My dear, if you remember, I have been to the Sahara on assignments and I always wore this outfit. I will be fine."

"Touche." I muttered before grabbing my bag. "Well, are we off?"

He nodded and motioned to the door. "Bryan is outside with the car. He will drive us to the pickup where you will get the money, and then to the bank before taking us to the airstrip. Our flight leaves when we are ready."

Grabbing my bags, I nodded before walking out and saying, "Let's get going. Our friend Agent Fowler is waiting and I hate keeping people waiting, especially when they have a death meeting with me."

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><p><strong>Black: You know, this is becoming quite an interesting story. <strong>

**Authoress: Why thank you Black.**

**Lizzie: I'm just glad you didn't make me immortal or have powers like in your other stories. I like being an assassin and that is it.**

**Black: Yes, and you are so good at it too.**

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><p><strong>AN: And here is the beginning of a new story! I hope you all are liking this so far. I was watching The Blacklist (awesome show by the way) and I randomly got the notion as to what would happen if the government had become nervous about how loyal Fowler was becoming to the bots in comparison to his country? So, they decided to get rid of the problem all together? It was just an idea. Also, I couldn't remember what service Unit E fell under so I just picked the FBI for him. Sounded like fun. And yes, Edward Black has the most...interesting outfit. I had to have fun with him. Next chapter will be quite entertaining and I wouldn't want to miss it. Until next time, drop a review, even to say hi! XD<strong>


	2. Jasper

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.**

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><p><strong>Black: Well, I'm glad that we haven't been tossed aside.<strong>

**Authoress: I wouldn't do that! I love you all so much!**

**Lizzie: And that's half of the problem.**

**Authoress: *smiles sheepishly* So true Lizzie. But, you are going to have fun with this chapter.**

**Lizzie: *groans* I hate it when you say that.**

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><p>Ch. 2: Jasper<p>

The plane ride was actually going much better than I thought it was going to be. The interior of the plane was very furnished and the plane was also built to not shake as much when it hit turbulence. I had to remember to ask Black who sold him this when I wanted one.

"Something to relax?" Black asked, causing me to glance at him.

A smirk crept onto my face when I saw two glasses of wine in his hand. "Don't mind if I do." I answered, while taking one of the glasses from him. Taking a sip, I realized that this was a very fine wine.

But, I didn't become absorbed in it as Black sat in front of me with a manilla folder in his hand. "I reached out to some of my contacts and tried to find out more information on both Agent Fowler and the project he has become so attached to. It wasn't easy but I found a few things. For the past year, at least, the area that he has been assigned to has been swamped with mysterious happenings; car crashes that, when people go to investigate, the cars have vanished, speeding cars running rampant through the desert, and reports of cars without drivers. Not sure how credible the last bit of information is but I figured that it might be important."

I nodded and said, "So, we pretty much know that what he is working on has something to do with cars. I don't see how that could cause the FBI to place a hit on him." I then paused and pulled out my own manilla envelope. "Speaking about that, I decided to dig into our employer. Unfortunately, I had even less luck than you did. From my preliminary search, I couldn't gain access to any files on our Agent Adrian Cooper. The man seems to have something to hide."

Black smirked at me. "Doesn't everyone Lizzie darling?"

Sighing, I shook my head before saying, "Of course Black." I then glanced out of the window. "So, where are we going?"

Again, Black smirked at me before turning on one of the monitors on the plane. Yes, this was a Jet Stream and that meant it was _really_ nice. "I have a house nearby Jasper. Haven't used it in years but it will work for us while we are here. Jasper seems to be the center of the reports that I have been receiving and so I figured that it should be nice to start there."

I nodded again and glanced at the area around Jasper. Pretty much, it was desert forever, the middle of nowhere. Not a bad place for the government to set up a secret project. No one would come here looking unless, like us, we were brought into some of the know-how. Of course, we were still missing much about what Agent Fowler's mission was and that could come back to bite us. Hopefully, it wouldn't.

When I felt the plane start its decent, I glanced out of the window next to me and saw that we were going to be landing at a hidden air field that was located in a canyon. Hopefully, the pilot knew what he was doing. While I wasn't scared of flying, I didn't want to crash and then become scared of flying. I liked flying.

Thankfully the pilot knew what they were doing and I soon felt the tires of the plane hit the surface of the Earth as we made contact. Good. The sooner that we could unpack and discuss a game plan for the day, the sooner I could go into Jasper and start my investigating. Since Agent Cooper had used the second option for my assignment, I wanted to gather as much information as I could about both Agent Fowler and this project that has the FBI so worried.

Once the plane stopped, I hopped out and could only stare in shock. Black's 'house' was carved into the canyon in front of me and it was at least three stories above ground. Who knew how many stories it stretched below the desert surface?

"Twenty-one."

I jumped when Black's voice came from my right. "Twenty-one what?" I asked him.

His face grew one of his knowing smirks before he said, "There are Twenty-one stories below the ground."

"How did..." I started to ask before I shook my head and walked forward. This was Edward Black. He probably knew what Fowler was thinking right now. That man was too good. "Alright, let's just get inside and get settled. Rooms are on the bottom floor I suppose?" I asked him as we walked through the ornate front door.

When we got inside and the front door shut, I paused as darkness continued to fill the room. "Don't worry, this is an easy fix." Black stated to me before he snapped and, suddenly, a light shone above us.

At first, it was a single light, just shining like it would have to hold back the darkness alone. But, suddenly, a light at a slightly higher slant next to it lit up and so it continued, one light turning on after the other, until a chandelier above us was fully light in light and the rest of the lights turned on. The walls and ceiling were made of black granite and the floors of a silver granite. If that wasn't enough, the walls had carvings of events in mythology and history. Zeus could be seen sitting on his throne on Mt. Olympus, the other gods sitting in their designated seats, Ra could be seen in his boat as he sailed the sun through the sky, and George Washington could be seen crossing the Delaware.

Of course, there were also statues guarding every door way of famous, and infamous, beings from history and myth. Standing guard at the base of the spiraling staircase that stretched to the bottom floors, were Hades and Anubis. They were made of white marble, ironically.

Shaking my head, I pointed to the statues of Hades and Anubis before saying, "So you are pretty much saying that anyone who dares go down those stairs will be descending into hell?"

He smirked and stood at the top of the stairs before saying, "Would you care to join me in hell my dear?"

Nodding, I followed him in standing on the top stair. "Now what? I'm not walking down twenty-one stories Black."

Laughing, he touched the back of Anubis' jackal head before saying, "Now, do you think I would have you do that?"

Suddenly, the stairs lurched forward as they made a downward descent into the darkness below and I staggered slightly at the sudden movement. "A little warning next time Black." I growled as I straightened myself back up.

"Oh, but where would my fun be in that?" He taunted me with a smirk.

Frowning, I pulled out my tablet and continued to try and find out some more information about Special Agent William Fowler. Something about this mission didn't feel right. A piece was missing. As I looked over the file, I realized that it might have something to do about what this 'Fowler' was working on. Strange cars that drove themselves and could disappear before any witnesses could see them. If the government had technology like that, why would they let me, an assassin of all people, anywhere near their secret?

A slight chuckle coming from next to me caused me to look up from my tablet and I raised an eyebrow at Black as he said, "Your facial features are telling me epics Lizzie. Don't worry about the mission yet. We have to find out more information the old fashioned way before we start wondering what would make the government desperate enough to hire a freelancer like yourself for a hit on an agent on a top secret assignment."

...That man had to be able to read minds. There was no other way to explain it. "Show off." I grumbled as the stairs stopped moving. Glancing around, I saw that the stairs ended at the end of a hallway and there were five doors. Two were on the left, two were on the right, and there was a single door on the opposite end of the hallway. "So, which one is mine?" I asked him. While I had been to many of Black's houses, this was by far the most interesting one that I had been to. It felt like I was in a whole other world.

"Yours is the one on the top right." Black stated, motioning to a brown door with an image of an ancient battle on it. "And mine is right across from yours on the left." He then motion to a black door with silver vines branching out from a black center piece that was in the shape of a scale that had a feather on one part and a human heart on the other. He had at least one door in each of his houses that had it on there, and so far, they had always been on his bedroom door. I knew why he had it on there and it made sense.

As I pressed down on the door handle, I said, "What, so you can sneak in on me?"

His response was a playful smirk before he disappeared behind his own door. I shook my head and walked into my room, which was much simpler than the intricate door would make you believe. A plain queen sized bed was in the far right corner of the room and there was a walk in closet in the other corner where I could see a wardrobe and a dresser inside. Deciding to unpack, I dragged my weapon's bag into the closet and placed the larger weapons in the wardrobe and put some of the smaller ones under my clothes that I unpacked. I didn't bring much in the way of clothes so I couldn't put that many of my smaller weapons in there. Instead, I took the rest of them back into the main room and I found positions on and under my bed to place most them for easy access need.

Once I was satisfied that I had hid enough by my bed, I hid the rest of them on my person. There were about six weapons extra that I brought with me. I placed a dagger on each side of my hip, under my shirt of course, two Ballester-Molina pistols, one colored pure black and one colored silver with a black grip, placed in two holsters that I keep strapped to the middle of my back, a black handled hand ax with silver vine designs on the handle strapped to the inner side of my right calf, which allowed it to be hidden by the bottom of my jeans, and I had a black hand fan with neon blue tips that was modified to have sharpened edges when I pressed a button on the handle. I allowed that one to hang from a silver chain around my neck. Once I was sure that I was ready, I walked back out of my room and saw that Black was waiting for me.

"Hope you are ready Lizzie." Black stated as he pointed to an elevator that he must have thought we didn't need to take to come down. "We are going to explore Jasper and see if we can find out what sort of suspicious activity is going on here, and how our Agent Fowler is connected."

Nodding, I walked into the now open elevator and waited for Black to get in before hitting the button that had the letter 'M' on it, which I hoped meant main floor. This town would hopefully be interesting and not some boring hick town in the middle of nowhere. I hated missions to those kinds of towns. The social structure always seemed to be the same and it gave me a headache each time I went to one.

**Twenty Minutes Later**

This was the most middle-of-nowhere town I had ever been in...and that was saying a lot. I could not even see a fragging roller rink to have fun in. No, instead, I just found out that I was in the most boring town in America. Oh joy. We had better either finish this mission quickly or the mission had better be one of the most interesting ones we had ever been on...and I wasn't putting my faith in the latter option with how boring this place already was.

"Can you shoot me now Black?" I asked my friend as we turned a corner. Up ahead a little and to our right I noticed the local school.

He chuckled at my obvious distress before saying, "Oh, it will get better later Lizzie. While small towns like this are generally bad, there is one good thing that can come out of them."

And of course he was right. "Yes, yes, I know. In small towns, everyone knows everyone and the gossip that fills a small town could power this town if it were able to be turned into electricity. But that still doesn't make them very enjoyable to be in."

The sound of a school bell ringing had Black and myself turning towards the school and I groaned right before he said, "Looks like school is getting out. And you know what that means?" He said the last part like a question but I knew that he knew that I knew what he meant.

It meant that I was about to have to punch some poor hormone-influenced high school student. While that could sometimes actually be quite fun, I knew that they had little control over it. I was a physically fit woman who was not that much older than they were. As the students started to file out of the school, and Black and I walked near the front, I studied each student and how they acted. It was easy to tell which students were the geniuses and which ones were just wanted to have fun. They were the first to come out because they were either in a hurry to create some fun in the boring as heck town or they were trying to get away from the jocks, who would one day be asking the geeks for jobs.

My attention was diverted from them and to the most unusual trio of kids that I had ever seen, and I had seen a few weird ones. The first looked around twelve, maybe thirteen, and he had to be a part of the 'geek' placement in my head. Next to him was a girl who was most likely an exchange student who looked like she came to America to simply rock out. And finally, there was a raven haired boy who looked like he was someone who liked to blend in with the background and not get noticed. The strange thing about it was that they all seemed to be friends. What sort of event could have caused those three to become friends, and close ones at that if I was to judge them by how they were interacting with each other?

Speaking of interesting, when the trio made it half way down the sidewalk and toward the parking area, the group that I liked the least walked out of the school. What group was that? Well, it was the jocks. And it wasn't the nice sort of jocks either. I actually loved hanging out with nice jocks. But, from the looks of the group of guys and their cheerleader stalkers, I had a problem with most cheerleaders too, they were the worst of the worst.

When the group of jocks and their followers caught up to the three, I knew that something was going to go down and this was going to be a great time for me to get some contacts in this small town. Contacts in town meant that I would be able to get a handle about all of these strange happenings with these mysterious cars.

Making sure I wasn't noticed, I crept toward the two groups until I was within two arms reach away from them. The foreign exchange student seemed to want to throw a punch at the main jock, which I would have loved to see, and the other two were trying to hold her back.

"Aw, what's the matter Darby? You have to have Nakadai fight your battles for you?" The main jock asked. Since bullies usually didn't address their victims by their first names, I had to assume that those were the last names of the girl and of the raven haired boy, since the main jock was looking at them.

That seemed like a perfect time for me to cut in. So, I said, "With as much fire I see in her, it might be the smartest things." Everyone there jumped in shock as I said that before I continued. "Never underestimate a girl."

They all continued to stare at me in shock, probably wondering how I crept up on them, before the main jock waved at me with a shooing motion before saying, "Why don't you get lost barbie? This isn't any of your concern, though if you want to hook up,"

"Don't even finish that statement. This is my concern because you ten against these three is obviously unfair." I softly growled.

The main jock walked up to me before he smirked and said, "What? And you think adding yourself to their side is going to make much of a difference?"

Letting out a huff that was just short of a gruff laugh, I said, "Kid, I could take all ten of you on by myself."

"Right, like a little flower like you could," the main jock started, putting a hand under my chin, with a smirk.

But, he suddenly had a frozen look appear on his face and I knew that it wasn't because of me.

A smirk played on my face as I realized what had happened right before a familiar voice tut tutted before saying, "Now, is that any way to treat a lady?" Black was standing behind the kid with the small edge of his cane pressed into the offending jock's back. To the kid, it probably felt like a gun. They were lucky it wasn't one. Now, if Black could just, "I suggest that you take your paws off of her and move over to your pack. Please." ….That man had to be able to read minds.

The jock, as expected, did as he was told and moved over to his friends once he moved his hand from my chin. That boy was lucky that he did because, if Black hadn't intervened, the kid probably wouldn't have a hand. Once the jock got a look at Edward, though, his expression changed from one of fear to one of disbelief and humor, probably at how Black was dressed. "Who asked you to get involved old man? And what is with that outfit? I think Hollywood would like their spare trash back."

I gulped at that and glanced at Black while the jocks and cheerleaders chuckled. While to most people, his expression had stayed the same, I knew better. You could say many things to Black that wouldn't phase him in the slightest. But, you never never insulted his outfit. That was crossing a line that they would never be able to come back from. I would be very surprised if they came out of this without needing a new change of bottoms.

In the blink of an eye, Black rounded on the main jock and slammed the larger, rounded part of his cane into the jock's gut before using that same end and quickly jabbing it into the jock's nose, efficiently breaking it. Then, before the jock could recover from that, Black got his right leg behind the jock's legs and tripped him, causing the jock to fall to the ground. Immediately afterwords, Black placed the small end of his cane against the jock's throat, forcefully, before he smirked. That entire attack had lasted at most three seconds and none of these kids had quite registered what had quite happened.

Placing his left foot on the jock's chest, Black looked down at him and said, "It seems like this 'old man', as you so put it, has decided to get himself involved. Now, I suggest that you and your friends vacate this area before I really get mad. And trust me junior," He then pressed his foot a little harder against the jock's chest, "you really don't want to see that." He held his cane and foot in place for a few more seconds, allowing the jock's friends to get ahead of the leader, before he took his foot and cane away and allowed the jock to run away.

While that had been fun, I had to establish contact with these kids. "You three alright?"

While the girl and the younger boy continued to stare at Black in shock, the eldest nodded and said, "Yeah, we're fine. Thanks for taking care of Vince for us. The name's Jack."

"I'm Raf." The younger boy introduced himself.

The girl finally seemed to snap herself out of her shock before she said, "I'm Miko." Then, before we could say anything, she rounded on Black. "How did you learn how to do that? Why do you carry a cane around? Did you get hurt in a fight? Are you some kind of super spy? Do you have any cool gadgets?"

Black and I just stared at the girl in shock for a moment. She really knew how to ask a lot of questions in a short amount of time. Reminded me of a hit that I had been asked to do with my second option. The guy's name was Barry Moschitta and he could talk a mile a minute, when he was talking slow. That had been one of my contracts from ICE and they had been worried about him. But, once I met him and studied him, I had found that he was not a threat.

Back to Miko though, we couldn't answer all of her questions and I hoped that Black knew that. "It took many years of training to learn that. I carry a cane because I like to. I did not get hurt in a fight." He then paused slightly before smirking and saying, "As for your last two questions, I'll let your imagination run with what you think." He then motioned to me before saying, "Now, my friend and I have to get going. We have some business here in town that will take a few days to complete. But, I do hope we will meet again." He then walked forward, and I followed dutifully behind him.

Once we were at the edge of the block, the two of us turned around and watched the three kids. When I did find them, I was shocked to see that there were now three vehicles in front of them. Where had those come from? And, more importantly, who had driven them in? "Black, what do you make of that?" I asked as the kids got into the vehicles. Jack got on the blue motorcycle, Miko got in the green armored SUV, and Raf got in the yellow and black sports car. Those cars seemed way too nice to be around these parts.

A small huff of disbelief came from Black and I tore my eyes away from the kids and stared at him as he answered me. "I believe that we have inadvertently stumbled across Agent Fowler's mission and those kids are somehow involved. I believe that if we keep an eye on those kids, we will discover what Agent Fowler is up to."

The sound of engines caused Black and I to turn back to the vehicles and I was surprised that they were driving away already. Black and I hadn't turned our backs for that long. While it was obvious that Jack was driving the motorcycle, there was no way that they other two were old enough for a license. When did two other people come by and take the wheels?

"It seems like this mission is getting interesting," Black started, causing me to turn back to him, "as well as this small town. Wouldn't you agree Lizzie dear?"

I hated it when he called me dear. It made me feel so old. But, he had asked me a question and I had to answer. Smirking, I answered him. "Edward Blacksmith, this town has gone from the most absolutely boring place on Earth to the most exciting town I have ever been to in three seconds flat. Now, we are going to figure out just what makes those cars so special, and we need to meet with this Agent Fowler." My smirk then grew before I said, "I have a death date with him and I would hate to keep him waiting for longer than he has to."

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><p><strong>Lizzie: Can't you just let me get to Fowler and shoot him already? I have a busy schedule.<strong>

**Black: But aren't you having fun?**

**Authoress: I need to build up to that Lizzie. Patience.**

**Lizzie: *huffs***

**Black: *tuts* Now now, don't get like that Lizzie dear.**

**Lizzie: *growls* And you stop calling me dear! *throws hatchet***

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><p><strong>AN: Well, that was fun! I hope you all enjoyed this update to this story. Sorry for the wait but I hope that it was worth it. Next chapter may or may not have Lizzie finally taking a shot at Fowler. Wonder if she will succeed? I guess you will all find out next time we meet. Until then, please drop a review, even to say hi, because I like hearing from you all! TTYL! =D<strong>


	3. How Did that Happen?

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.**

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><p><strong>Lizzie: I want to take him out now.<strong>

**Black: Dear, I said to be patient, and patience is a good thing.**

**Lizzie: Say that to the hole in your house.**

**Black:...What hole?**

**Authoress: And don't worry Lizzie, looks like something interesting happens here.**

**Black: WHAT HOLE?**

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><p>Ch. 3: How Did that Happen?<p>

It had now been three days, THREE DAYS, since we had arrived in Jasper and I was ready to take this Agent Fowler out. The day after I had met the kids, I had caught my first glance at Agent Fowler. He was a stocky kind of man and I felt that his threat level was very low. He seemed out of shape, though my research told me that he used to be an Army Ranger. That might cause him to be difficult, but I didn't see much of that about to happen. How did I not see it? Well, the reason I first saw him was because Miko seemed to have gotten into some sort of trouble at school that must have interfered with his assignment. I didn't see any other reason for him to be there. That observation told me that he was going to be a simple target to take out.

"But remember Lizzie dear, simple targets aren't always what they appear to be."

I jumped and turned from my bed as Black's voice came from the doorway. Of course, he was leaning against the frame, all dressed up in his normal suit outfit. "Don't do that!" I growled as I stood up, for I had been kneeling down next to it to put away a few weapons that I had been practicing with, before I walked toward my closet. "Yes, but I want this simple target out of the way quickly." I pulled out my Dragunov SVD rifle and double checked to make sure that it was in proper working order before I placed it in its case.

"So, you are going to use the Dragunov?" Black asked me. "I thought you would go for the SCAR."

Rolling my eyes, I walked up to him and said, "The SCAR doesn't feel right for this. I think the Dragunov is more suited."

Black held up his hands in a surrendering motion. "Sorry Lizzie. If you want to use the Dragunov, then you are free to use it." He then motioned out the door before saying, "Now, shall we go and track down our Agent Fowler?"

Nodding, I walked out of the door and went to the elevator. The ride up was quiet, as it usually was before we went to take out a target. No talking, no getting distracted by other factors that we might bring up. No allowing those who might be affected by the target's death enter your mind, even slightly, so that you could focus solely on your mission. It took me a while to learn these but, ever since I had, my performance on the job had improved exponentially.

Once we reached the top, we walked out to his dune buggy. It was the street legal kind that was painted with tan digital cameo. Honestly, he probably bought it for this place just in case he needed. "Your driving." I told him as I placed my rifle case behind the passenger seat before I got in and brought it back up front to sit on my lap.

He nodded and effortlessly jumped into the driver seat before starting it up and driving down the desert road. As he did, I found myself thinking about what I had learned from Black and what I had accomplished because of it. Personally, I had taken down rulers with the heaviest of guard and cretins with the most uncanny ability to hide. All because of Edward Blacksmith. And to think that, once upon a time, I had been sent to kill him.

Flashback:

"_You know your mission. Find the target, study them, and take him down." My contact at Homeland said to me as I sat in the middle of the large oak tree on the side of Blacksmith's house. A month ago, Homeland Security had hired me to take out a rogue agent of theirs, Edward Vitae Blacksmith. This agent was the top of their special operations for a few years until, one day, he simply vanished. He had been their top agent, though they didn't inform me as to why that was. Oh well. Not long after that, they received word that missions he worked on appeared on the internet and they were having one heck of a time covering it up. They were paying me about five hundred thousand to take him out and so I didn't mind what he did._

_Shaking my head, I said, "I know that. Now, can you keep this line clear." I noticed that there were six bundles of poppy flowers. Guess he was into the flowers. Must have a significant meaning to Blacksmith because they did not go with this house. _

"_Not until you complete the objective." My contact quickly responded._

_Taking out the earpiece and microphone set, I said, "Hey, I think there is a solar flare happening. I am losing you!"_

"_Don't you dare," The agent started to yell but, before he could finish, I smashed the devices. They would just distract me. I wanted to take care of this Edward Blacksmith as quickly as possible so I could get the rest of my fee and get out of there. When I had been studying him, something had felt off. It was almost like he knew that I was watching him. But, that was impossible. No one knew when I was watching them until it was too late._

_Dropping down from my hiding place, I made my way to the front door. I had taken Blacksmith's actual key to force him to show me where he kept his hidden one. But, once he did, I placed his original key on the ground next to his car so he would think that he dropped it. _

_Once the front door was unlocked, I carefully opened it so it wouldn't make a sound and, once it was open enough for me to fit through, I quickly crept inside before shutting and locking the door again. It would make the police think that I had come through another direction when they came to investigate the murder. Or, well, when the came to investigate the 'accident'. That sounded better. Yeah, I'll go with accident for now._

_As I made my way up the stairs of the three story Victorian styled home, I noticed that there weren't many personal items around. None. It was like my target was a sad, pathetic shell of a man who was dead in every way but the one that I was here to accomplish. Maybe this would be like a mercy killing instead of an act of brutality. Yeah, that's right. Just an act of mercy for the poor ex-agent._

_When I reached the top floor, which housed Blacksmith's room, I carefully walked down the hall until I came to a simple brown door. I would have thought that Blacksmith would have had a more decorated door but the way the man decorated his house was not important to me. His life was. Or, more specifically, ending his life was. _

_Opening the door, I glanced around the room. The shadows seemed to cling to each and every surface that the almost pristine, and simple, room held. The carpet below my shoes had a feel that was not unlike coarse wool and it was colored black and silver. In the northeast corner of the room, a simple dresser sat with only a medium sized mirror sitting on top. In the northwest corner, there was a cabinet that held a few trophies and certificates, though what they said was of no consequence to me. What was of consequence was what was in the middle of the room, the bed. It's simple headboard was pushed against the north wall and a figure was covered by a light comforter that was colored black. This guy had an addiction to black. _

_Shaking my head, I let out a slow breath, feeling the under-armor of the mask I was wearing stretch as I took my last deep breath before I took out my target. Then, I silently took out my dagger and held it in my hand as I carefully made my way to the side of his bed. These ex-agent types could be quite a handful if I messed up and I didn't want to have to try and fight him. No, instead, I wanted to end his life for him peacefully. So, once I was next to the bed, I saw that his back was facing me. Perfect. Now all I had to do was drive the dagger into the base of his neck. Painless. _

_One I located where his neck was, I held the dagger out before quickly and decisively bringing it down on his neck. When I pulled out the weapon and it was covered in red, I knew that I had done my job. "But, just to confirm it." I muttered to myself as I gripped the black comforter, ready to pull it back. After a few seconds of standing there, I did just that._

"_What?" I gasped in a loud whisper. This wasn't supposed to happen! He was supposed to be here! The dagger was covered in blood!_

_I yelped as a sharp, yet thin, object slammed into my neck and something was injected into me before I realized what was going on. By then, my vision was going dark and I was falling to the floor. The last thing that I registered was an averaged sized, but strong, warm arm catching me around my upper waist._

End of Flashback.

"Not to interrupt your zone out." Black stated, bringing me out of the memories of the past. I made sure not to show my surprise as he did. I also noticed that he was slowing down greatly. "But, I believe that is one of those vehicles that picks up the children, and, unless I'm losing my vision, I believe that our Agent Fowler is in the front seat."

"Driver side?" I asked him. I was hoping that he wouldn't be. That maybe he had slipped and I could find out more about his project.

But, as expected, Black nodded. "Yep, though he looks a little too relaxed. Maybe we should get a closer look. Maybe a red one." He smirked at the end of that. I knew he was talking about me taking out Fowler.

Smirking, I said, "Well, we had better go and catch up to them. I've got a named bullet just itching to connect with Agent Fowler." Of course, it wasn't a true named bullet. I never actually named them because then I didn't want to risk jinxing my shots because I shot the wrong named bullet at my target.

Black smirked back at me before he carefully followed the Agent's dust trail. We were using the dust trail to stay out of his sight. He couldn't use any radar he might have to locate us because Black shielded all of his vehicles with carbon shielding. Even his plane was shielded. Made it really nice to move through the air quickly and secretive. Of course, that shielding didn't stop us from tracking them.

We followed them for a few moments until they came to a round-about and stopped. Perfect. That meant that there would be nowhere for Fowler to retreat that didn't come past me. Once Black stopped the buggy, I hopped out and took my rifle out of its case before I walked toward the edge of the opening of the end of the canyon. It was far enough away from Black that we were no long in each others' sights but it was close enough for me to run to him if I had to make a quick getaway from the location. On the other side, the walls were high and there were no openings. So, I was almost positive that this was going to be a simple hit, since the green SUV seemed to be in park, so it couldn't get in my way when I eventually took my shot. But, first, I had to make sure that I had perfect aim to make it a quick and painless death. That was the least I could do for my targets. Unless the circumstances were very unique, I didn't want to cause my targets any more pain then they had to suffer.

Laying down on the sandy ground, I aimed my rifle so I would be taking out this Agent Fowler in one hit, no mess or extra pain. Also, I made sure that I stayed to the shadows just in case they started to look around here before I could get my shot in. But, as I lined up Fowler in my cross-hairs, I knew that was not going to happen. I was almost ready. The shot was only a moment away. I slowly placed my right pointer finger against the trigger and took a deep breath before slowly exhaling it. This was it. After days of getting ready, this was it. As Fowler started to hang up his phone, I knew that the time was now. Once the phone was hung up, then I would be ready.

Fowler placing his phone in his pocket told me that it was time. So, I checked my shot and, with practiced ease, I pulled the trigger. The sound of the shot was almost non-existent thanks to highly-advanced tools that Black had gotten me through his contacts. The kick-back was lowered greatly due to the same reason. I could almost watch as the bullet sailed toward the Agent. Well, I might of if I wasn't panicking and quickly getting up. As soon as I fired the shot, I knew it was a miss and I had to get out of there. How did I know so early that the shot was a miss? Well, as soon as I had pulled the trigger, the green SUV did the most unlikely thing.

It moved into the bullet's path.

"Of all the luck." I grumbled as I sprinted around a corner and saw Black's car in sight.

Black, for his part, looked surprised and stood up before asking, "What's wrong?"

Guess he could see that something was wrong. "I missed the shot. That green SUV moved by itself and blocked my shot just as I fired it."

He started the engine and made his way back down the canyon on an auxiliary path then what we had come in by and we drove in silence for a few moments, which allowed me to put my rifle away, before he finally said something. "This complicates our mission further. His project with those vehicles is something that we did not study seriously enough and, even if he does not guess it right away, I know that Agent Fowler will realize that he was the target of an assassination and he will be much harder to get at."

"I know that!" I growled sharply at him. In all of my life, I had missed so few shots that I could count them on my hands.

I felt a gentle, but firm, hand on my shoulder and I didn't have to turn to know whose it was. "Lizzie," Black started, shaking my shoulder slightly in a jostling way. "we knew something was off about this assignment from the beginning. At least we got out clean."

Nodding, I glanced away from him before letting my memories from before come back at me, to one of the times when I had failed to complete the mission. Back, when I had met Edward Blacksmith for the first time and I would forever be connected with the infamous man.

Flashback

_I groaned as awareness came back to me. What had happened? I tried to lift my left arm but stopped trying when it wouldn't move. Since I could still feel it, that meant that I was restrained. My survival instincts kicked in at that point and I opened my eyes. Wherever I was being kept, I could see that it was secluded, dark, and had a musty smell, much like garage attics. But, the room that I was in was so much cleaner. I could smell the sharp lemon smell of floor cleaner all around me._

"_You seem much younger then the others." A male voice said from next to my right ear, almost in a curious whisper._

_I stayed silent for a moment before asking, "Others?"_

_I heard the male voice smirk before he said, "The six others who have tried, and failed, to take out Edward Blacksmith." He then paused and, while I was very tempted to glance back and see what he was doing, I stayed facing forward. Whoever this man was, I knew that he was probably searching for any weakness he could use against me. Looking back would reveal curiosity, and he could use that curiosity against me and I was already in a vulnerable enough position. I did not need to add anything that he could take as a weakness._

_But, something he just said caught my attention. "Six? What happened to them?"_

_A shiver almost traveled up my spine as I felt an almost professionally soft finger draw light circles at the base of my neck, right where I stabbed the crash test dummy. The man then started talking again, "Mr. Blacksmith loves his flowers. They look so beautiful when they are in full bloom. If you use just the right fertilizer, they grow so vibrant. Do you like flowers?"_

_I was thrown by this man's lack of seriousness...at first. I asked about these others who had tried to come and kill Mr. Blacksmith and he says something about random flowers? But, I then thought about what he was saying. It was only then that what he was saying started to slowly click into my mind. The poppies; they weren't for decoration. This man had killed all the others who had been tasked of taking our Edward Blacksmith and those others were buried underneath the poppies._

_When I realized that there hadn't been any talking for a while, I realized that I had to answer him. "They're nice at first, but they quickly loose their appeal."_

_The finger at my neck paused for a moment and I wondered why. But, my wondering would have to wait as I felt the finger trace a line down the right side of my neck, pause at my artery, and then start those small circular motions at the base of my throat. The man, still behind me, was a complete mystery to me. I could not see any part of him yet and my curiosity was driving me crazy. Who was this man who got the drop on me?_

"_I see." The man started, his voice seemingly right next to my ear. I couldn't stop the shiver that traveled through my body as I felt the heat from his breath brush against my ear. "You are...different. I must ask, where are your microphone and earpiece? The others that Homeland sent were wearing them but I did not find any when I searched you."_

_This guy was starting to creep me out. But, at the same time, I almost felt drawn to him. I had to get out of here. If my mind couldn't make up what to do about this man, then I did not want to stay here for longer than I had to. But, I had to play it carefully or I would end up dead. So, I answered his question. "My 'liaison' was annoying me. So, I decided that I didn't want him in my head during this mission and destroyed them." _

_My voice was calm, but he must have found something amusing because I heard him chuckle slightly before, again, his finger stopped circling the base of my throat and paused. What was his deal? I couldn't figure this guy out for the life of me._

"_Sounded like fun." The man said before his finger retraced its path back up my neck, pausing slightly at the artery, before coming to the spot where I had stabbed the dummy and again making those circular motions. "You are very tense. Why don't you relax?"_

_I rolled my eyes at that but chose to keep my mouth shut. I was going to say something that I would probably regret if I didn't. I had to stay tense just in case he tried anything. But, it seemed like my trying was for not as I felt the man press against a different spot on my neck and, immediately, my body relaxed. Mentally, I was panicking. What was he doing to me? "What was that for?" I asked softly, though I was angry that I couldn't keep the slight feeling of fear out of my voice. _

_He chuckled slightly, his breath hitting the back of my neck, before saying, "You needed to relax, dear, and that was the fastest way that I knew how to help. Now, I can see that you are brimming with curiosity at my identity," How did he guess that? I was hiding it perfectly! "and since you have been a very cooperative assassin, I will allow you to see me before I kill you."_

_So he was going to kill me. And, since I still hadn't figured out how to escape, I knew that this was the end. All the hard work that I had overcome, to be taken out now. Sometimes life really wasn't fair. But, when I started this, I knew that I might end up being killed. So, instead of feeling sorry for myself, I stayed facing forward._

_Though he had already done it before, I could not stop the shiver from traveling down my spine as he moved his finger from the back of my neck and to down the artery. But, as he moved from there to the base of my throat, I noticed that there was movement on my right side. Now I would finally see this man who seemed to represent Edward Blacksmith. From what I could see now, he was in some sort of suit coat. Not what I was expecting out...of..._

_I stared in shock at the figure before me. No. Way._

"_It is nice to see you conscious, my would be assassin." The man I had been studying for a week, Edward Blacksmith, stated as he knelt down in front of the chair I was strapped to. He was the one who got the drop on me? What sort of work did he do for special operations? "Homeland was quite upset when I stopped being their personal assassin and went into the private sector of the business. They keep trying to take me out with you inexperienced people and all you get is dead. Quite a shame."_

_He was an **assassin**! I knew those rats at Homeland were holding something out on me but I didn't realize that it would be this big! If I got out of this, I was never going to accept an assignment from them ever again. "What happens now?" I asked Blacksmith. I figured that, if he was going to kill me, I would prefer that he get on with it. It was the least I could hope since I gave most of my targets a quick death._

_The smirk he gave me caused me to shiver. He had a strange feel about him and it was, strangely, attractive and addictive. If he wasn't about to kill me, I could see myself becoming addicted to him. That wouldn't be too great so I was almost glad that he was about to off me._

"_I don't like dragging out a death," He said as he took out a dagger with a black blade. Seriously, too addicted with black. "so, fair lady, this is where we say goodbye." He then lashed forward with the dagger aimed at my throat._

_Instead of flinching, or trying to dodge, or saying anything, I stayed perfectly straight as the dagger drew closer and closer to my throat. There was no way that I was going to show fear when I left this world. Not a chance._

_I felt the blade break the first few layers of skin at my throat and the hot blood seep down from the wound he made. But, I was surprised when he halted, almost instantly. What was going on? He was supposedly going to kill me? I felt so confused then and, as I continued to look at Blacksmith, I saw that he looked shocked. And not a shock that he put up on his own. No, this was pure shock that he couldn't have possibly controlled._

_But, that look of shock quickly vanished and a genuine smile seemed to appear on his face. "Perfect. Never thought I would find someone quite like you."_

_Now I was **really** confused. "What are you talking about?"_

_He laughed at me before saying, "My dear, I had every intent of cutting you down where you sat but you didn't flinch, you never let fear show on your face. Why?"_

_I could still feel the tip of the dagger in my skin and the blood was still trickling down as I answered Mr. Blacksmith. "When I decided to become an assassin, I knew that I was placing my life on the line every day that I was alive. I know that, one day, my life will come to an end and I am doubting that it will be peaceful. For years, I have served death and I have taken out hundreds of people. Why should I fear the same thing happening to me?"_

_The man stared at me for a moment and I felt like he was studying me. Like I was hiding something behind my eyes that would give him the answer to eternal youth. "My dear, I have a proposition for you, if you would care to hear me out."_

_What? This man was making no sense at all and I was ready to just tell him to off me so I wouldn't be so confused. But, I wanted to figure out what this proposition was and so I asked, "What sort of proposition?"_

_That smirk of his was really addicting. I had no idea how he pulled it off. Plus, he was at most ten years older than me so he was close enough to my age to be consider attractive. _

_I mentally shook my head at that as he answered me. "I don't meet many people who excel in our line of work, and even fewer who could have kept watch on me like you did, but you are the only one, besides myself, who I have crossed who has not flinched when faced with death. So, I would like to propose a permanent partnership. I could teach you so much and you could keep my company, because, as you can guess, there are not too many people I would open up to. I have unlimited resources and I could make sure that we stayed alive. I would completely trust you, as I would hope you would me. Since I can tell that you are impressed with me, as much as I am with you, then this would be the perfect partnership. What do you say?"_

_My eyes widened in shock at that. What was he talking about? Assassins never partnered up. There was never enough trust to do so. I had tried when I had first started out and I had been stabbed in the back, both figuratively and actually, and I was nervous about what Blacksmith was offering. Permanent partnership? I wasn't so sure about that. So, I figured I would test him with a question of my own, "Are you going to still kill me if I say no? I would like to know before I give my answer."_

_I could see something light up behind his eyes, almost excitement, before he said, "No my dear, I will not kill you if you say no. You are a rare star in our line of work and I would not take you out."_

_The truth in his answer was beaming in his voice and so I said, "Why not? I would rather be with the man who got the best of me than against him."_

_He smirked at that before saying, "I was hoping you would say that." He then finally took the dagger away from my throat and cut my bonds. I tried to stand on my own but I found that my legs were still weak. He placed a hand under my arm and helped me up and said, "And I can't wait for our partnership to get underway. But, I would like to meet my new partner dear."_

_I figured it was only fair so I took off my mask and said, "The name is Lizzie Xantara Val. It will be interesting to work with you. But," I then paused before adding, "don't call me dear."_

_He smirked at me like he didn't have a care in the world._

End of Flashback.

"Yeah, at least we got away clean." I muttered. As we pulled into Black's garage, I knew that I had to get to Agent Fowler soon. He was going to panic once he found out that he was being targeted. Tomorrow, I would take him out, or die trying.

**Ratchet's 3rd P.O.V.**

The Autobot medic sighed as he worked on Bulkhead. Agent Fowler had asked Bulkhead to take him out on one of their regular patrols because his superiors wanted to know what an average day with the Autobots was like. So, they had agreed. During that outing, however, Bulkhead was struck on the side with something small and metallic and it was currently lodged into his chassis. Ratchet was currently trying to get it out. But, it was strange, He doubted that the debris hit Bulkhead on accident but he wasn't sure what its purpose was.

"Aren't you done yet Ratchet? Bulk and I have some dune bashing to go do!" Miko pestered him again. Ratchet sometimes wished that she was like them just so he could weld her lip plates together so he wouldn't have to hear her constant blabber.

Sighing, Ratchet took a tool and reached inside before taking out the projectile and setting it on a table. "Once I weld up this hole and he takes a decontamination bath, then yes, I will be.

Miko let out a groan before saying, "Don't you think getting decontaminated is a bit much doc?"

Shaking his head, Ratchet started to weld the damage together and said, "Not when we do not know what could have been on that scrap of metal."

Miko sighed at that and walked off. But, if Ratchet thought that would stop the questions, he was proven wrong when the others walked up to the small table he had set the metal on and Fowler said, "I don't know. That doesn't look like a regular piece of scrap metal."

Great, now Fowler thought he knew everything. Thankfully, Optimus answered. "What do you mean by that Agent Fowler?"

"It almost looks like some sort of bullet." Fowler answered. "Once you are done with it, I'll take it over to the boys back at base and see if they can't figure anything out about it."

Once Ratchet was finished welding up Bulkhead, he shooed the green mech to the decontamination area before quickly scanning the piece of scrap that Agent Fowler thought could have been a bullet. He seriously doubted that it was because it would not have any effect on a Cybertronian. Why would anyone even try?

As his scans ran a diagnostic, Raf moved closer to the scrap before saying, "I think it is a bullet. It looks like the pictures I studied for Forensic Science class." Everyone stared at the young human before he said, "It was an elective. Last year."

Ratchet nodded and knew that Rafael was usually pretty spot on with what he knew. But, why would someone shoot at Bulkhead? It didn't make any sense. "Well, we will find out if anything that can harm us is on that bullet."

Raf nodded and said, "I wonder what it feels like..." Raf then reached out his hand toward it.

A beep from his scanners caused Ratchet's optics to widen. "Rafael don't touch that!" He then scooped up Raf.

The others jumped in shock before Optimus asked, "Ratchet, what did you find out?"

Pointing to the bullet, Ratchet explained himself. "That bullet was coated with a poison called Batrachotoxin. While the toxin has no effect on us, it will kill a human almost instantly."

"But then why did they aim for Bulk?" Miko asked. Ratchet noticed that all of the humans still on the ground had backed up a good deal away from the table.

It was then that the answer seemed to click in Ratchet's processor. They had all been so focused on Bulkhead that they forgot about one other detail. One that was now brought forward by the finding of the extremely dangerous poison...to humans. "That's because Bulkhead wasn't the target," Ratchet started.

Ratchet glanced up at Optimus and could see that his friend now realized what he was getting at. Optimus then took over for the medic. "the target seems to have been Agent Fowler."

Everyone turned to Fowler, with said agent pointing at himself in shock, before he said, "Me? But, then that would mean..."

"Agent Fowler?" Ratchet asked, prompting Fowler to share his thoughts.

The Autobot medic could see the panic in their liaison's eyes as the human said, "That means that I've got a price on my head, and someone just tried to collect on it."

* * *

><p><strong>Lizzie: Yahoo! I finally got to take a shot at Fowler!<strong>

**Authoress: *mutters* And missed.**

**Lizzie: *yells* What was that?**

**Black: You really did it now Authoress.**

**Authoress: *runs***

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And here is the next chapter to this story! I hope you all liked it! Seems like Fowler now knows he is being targeted. I wonder when Lizzie is going to confront him again? She will have to so her reputation won't be tarnished by the miss. *laughs knowingly, evil smile on face* Also, looks like we got to see how Lizzie met Black and that whole situation. Next chapter is going to be very interesting and very hilarious so I would not want to miss it. Oh, and did anyone catch the transformers voice actor reference I made last chapter? If you did, then you can probably guess who I might bring in. Please place a review so I can see how I did, or if you want to say hi, or if you want to laugh at Lizzie for missing, *ducks as dagger is thrown*, or if you want to yell at me for making her miss. XD Unitl next time, TTYL! *goes to secret nuclear bomb shelter to hide from Lizzie*<strong>


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